Medical Emergencies: Ariane

My medical emergency was actually a month ago on the last week of preschool (much to my sister's dismay who had to cover all the prep I usually do.) I learned a lot about taking care of infections and about doctors with this problem. Warning: I will include pictures at the end, but you may want to skip those if you have a weak stomach.

Saturday (May 21): I woke up with a slight throbbing in my right pinky. I had a little cut on that finger which was starting to have a red circle around it, so I immediately thought of staph. Dallin had a staph infection on his knee the week before and I was the one taking care of it (meaning I popped it.) We know a lot about staph infections in our family because my sister has become a pro taking care of her son's many staph infections. By the middle of the day I started to take some over the counter pain medication because the pain was bothering me.

Sunday: The swelling on the bottom half of my pinky was getting worse and redder. By that night the pain was bothering me so much that I knew I needed to see the doctor. In my mind the infection needed to be popped, but it wouldn't. My mom informed me she had nothing to do the next morning (meaning she had tons to do but was willing to drop everything to come babysit...bless her). I really struggled with sleeping that night because of the throbbing. I think I woke Zane up a couple of times informing him I couldn't sleep. He loved that.

Monday: We are on a new insurance plan this year where we no longer pay a copay but have to meet a deductible. We hadn't met it yet, so when I made my appointment, I made it with a PA. I have seen many PA's in the past for small things with much success. Not only are they cheaper but you can get in right away whereas a doctor may have a hard time fitting you in. I went in first thing in the morning hoping the PA would recommend lancing. This just shows the amount of pain I was in. I was all for lancing knowing whatever pain this caused would bring relief.

The PA confirmed that most likely it was staph (we couldn't be positive without taking a culture) but then said that lancing wasn't possible because of the many veins in the finger. Instead she prescribed an antibiotic. She considered giving me an antibiotic shot to get things working faster but decided I should come back in on Wednesday if things were getting worse. All I could focus on was that she wasn't going to provide relief and I was going to be in pain for awhile longer. When I mentioned the pain, she kind of looked at me strange and asked if I wanted a prescription for pain medicine. She obviously didn't think my finger could hurt that bad. I kept thinking I'm some kind of baby because Dallin didn't complain this much when he had a staph infection.

I slept very little that night.

Tuesday: I woke up with my right hand all puffy and my finger growing bigger. I decided not to wait until Wednesday and started calling the PA's nurse to tell them how it was getting worse and ask what I should do. The nurse and I played phone tag all day until she finally called me back at 5 p.m. (when it was too late to come in) to tell me to come in the next day but that this PA wasn't going to be in so I needed to see someone else.

Wednesday: There are two offices in my area for my doctor. I was able to get an appointment with a PA down by my mom which was perfect because I could bring my kids to her. This PA took one look at my finger and said, "That must be really painful." Oh thank you. She said it was more painful because the infection was stuck in such a small area. (She probably didn't say it like that though.) The infection was also in the right pinky, so I had to use that hand a lot and the kids kept bumping it. She then said that an antibiotic wasn't going to do any good until the finger was lanced and the infection was allowed to come out. While she tried to get me an appointment with a doctor right away, the nurse gave me the antibiotic shot in my rear end. I should have insisted on this shot on Monday but I have a big problem with needles (ironic since during my infertility years needles had to become my best friend.) The antibiotic shot is a killer. My bum hurt for a few hours after wards (not like my finger hurt, but for a shot, it was annoying.)

I got a doctor's appointment for that afternoon with the dermatologist associated with this clinic. Luckily the kids were at my moms and getting well taken care of. I joined them for lunch, got Gavin down for a nap, then headed to the dermatologist skipping out the door (I was that excited for the lancing.)

This doctor was wonderful. He took one look at my hand and also said the wonderful words making me feel less like a baby, "That must really hurt." I felt in such capable hands because this doctor had dealt with this problem many times and quite frankly loved it. He was so excited about the prospect of pushing out all that mucus.

As he and the nurse started prepping me and explaining the process, I finally had the thought that maybe I should have had Zane with me (if I'm ever getting a lot of shots or anything with needles I usually have someone with me in case I faint. It has happened in the past many times.) The nurse was telling me that since my finger was so big they may not be able to get the whole thing numb and I may feel the lancing. This doctor was wonderful though and made me feel so comfortable and laughing. He then started giving me shots in my finger which weren't the best (better than the antibiotic shot though) and after three I couldn't feel the last two as much. (6 shots in one day; not bad.)

At first I didn't watch the lancing process, but I couldn't feel anything so I decided I wanted to see what was causing all the pain. Let's just say it was all really gross (but the doctor loved it. You really have to be weird to be a dermatologist.) Soon my finger had shrunk and the doctor was stuffing the cut with packing (the material that keeps the wound open so that it could continue to drain kind of like a candle wick.) He wrapped up my finger and we were done. It was the best money I have ever spent.

The Recovery:
I took pain killers after I drove home with my kids and then as we (Zane left work slightly early to be home when I got there) were leaving the house to go to my sister's for dinner, I took what I thought was my antibiotic. It was actually a third pain pill (I guess I was a little out of it and open the wrong bottle.) At my sister's house I got in a huge fight with my littlest sister on the phone then I bit Haley's head off. Next thing I know I was crying horribly and on the couch sick to my stomach. I don't think pain killers mix well with me especially when I take too many. By the next afternoon, I wasn't even taking pain killers any more.

The only problem with the recovery was changing the bandage and soaking the wound in a vinegar/water mixture. Because of the packing sticking out of the wound and the fact that it was still draining, it was pretty gross looking. The first night both Zane and I got a little queasy changing it. The next morning while changing it, I looked at Zane and he was as white as a ghost telling me he needed to go lay down. I think it was too early in the morning for him to see it. After that, I got pretty good at changing it myself even though Zane kept saying he could do it.

I was still pretty frustrated that my finger was still so sensitive and I couldn't use it. I tried to play the piano to see if I could play the organ for Sunday, and I couldn't do it. I wasn't in as much pain, but if anything bumped my finger, it hurt pretty bad.

By Friday I was allowed to take out the packing. I spared Zane that job and went to Kari (the nurse.) I think the doctor stuffed at least an inch of packing in a tiny cut. It stung pretty bad coming out but about an hour later my whole finger felt so much better. I could move it again and the pain was gone!

Lesson learned: PA's are great for small things, cold, pink eye, persistent coughs etc. If it is something serious, see a doctor. I could have gone straight to my dermatologist and had everything done on Monday. I would also have saved $150.

Second lesson learned: When taking care of someone else's infections, wear gloves. This should have been a no brainer. I got my infection from Dallin.

Here are the pictures. Look only if you feel up to it. Luckily I was taking pictures with my old camera which was dying so the pictures aren't the clearest.

Before lancing; I didn't get a picture of my whole hand which was all puffy.

This picture was taken on Friday, two days after the lancing so it doesn't look as bad. For some reason, the skin around the cut pealed off.

A few days after the packing was taken out- When Kari took at the packing, she was amazed how deep the wound was. At first she thought she could see bone. You can see that my pinky was almost back to a normal size.